In one of the houses on Modrzejower Street that was full like a beehive of
Jewish families lived Reb Mosze Winter, a small Jew with a blond little beard
and nearsighted eyes with eyeglasses. At four in the morning one could already
meet him at the Będzin trains station absorbed in his daily work on the
Będzin-Ząbkowice line. Everyone knew him  from his call
świeże obwarzanki, frishe beigl, frishe beigl
[fresh bagels, first in Polish and then in Yiddish]. And everyone who arrived
on the early express train from Warsaw had the pleasure of Winter's fresh,
crackling bagels. He dragged the heavy basket on his bent back, day in and day
out, summer and winter, and called out in his hoarse voice  frishe
beigl

However, when Friday, 12 o'clock came, Mosze Winter put away his two baskets
and became a completely different Mosze; his back straightened up and his face
brightened.

He left for Mendl the tavern keeper's Friday, after welcoming Shabbat
and finishing the Shabbat meal, to meet friends, to converse about the week in
politics and to hear the news of the city, accompanied by a glass of beer with
salted chickpeas and beans. Early on Shabbat, Reb Mosze Winter would seize the
opportunity to read a few chapters of Psalms and to go over the weekly Torah
portion and then go quickly to the first minyan [10 men required for praying]
in the synagogue, finish praying, perform the kiddush [prayer over wine] 
and again took to his baskets But this time, not bagels  taking two
neighbors as helpers, he would go from house to house and call out: Gut
Shabbat Yiddelech [Good Sabbath Jews], and hearing the singing voice of
Mosze Winter and those accompanying him, they began to bring challahs and other
Shabbat foods and quickly the baskets were filled. He left with the baskets for
the poor homes, where Shabbat had not been prepared. Reb Mosze had the
information about where and who needed to have challahs brought quietly for
Shabbat so that no one would notice. Later, he went to the Będzin jail and
provided Shabbat food for the Jewish arrestees. Reb Mosze Winter was
himself an institution, an official without a budget

2) Der Tehilim Yid[The Psalm Jew  one who recites Psalms]

by Dawid Ben Klonimus

Bendet Dawid Pik  no one knew who he was, but everyone knew Reb Bendet
Dawid, the sharpener. Always poor, but not going door to door as a
beggar, God forbid, he was a tradesman, a sharpener of knives and scissors. He
would go around the city with his stand and bang a piece of iron
with a hammer that hung on the side of his workshop. This would be
a sign that Bendet Dawid was here. He did not earn a great amount of money from
sharpening the knives because the servants did not accept his art.
However, the knives he sharpened did have one virtue  one
could not cut one's hand with them

Well, never mind! Reb Bendet Dawid was not very bothered by the mockery on his
account. When he was not busy sharpening, he went to the large Bet Midrash
[House of Study], stood at a reading desk in the ante-chamber and recited
Psalms. Here, while reciting Psalms, no one could be compared to him. With his
hoarse voice, he would let loose and recite heartily with singing and without
end, until his wife Yes, Reb Bendet Dawid had a wife, a small one, a
cripple, with a hunchback and a voice that made even Reb Bendet Dawid interrupt
his recitation of Psalms when she screamed. Here she came running
into the Bet Midrash and screamed in a way that no one understood her
screaming, except her husband. Well, enough already, sinful woman, stop
screaming, I am coming!  he would complain to her.

His wife dragged him home to first eat his breakfast at one o'clock, because if
not for her, his Yiddene [Jewish woman  this word often has a derogatory
connotation] who took very good care of him, he would not remember that he must
eat, because eating is only to be able to make a blessing. However, if one
recites Psalms, his life is complete Bendet Dawid had only one desire in
life  a watch, so that he would be able to get up at night at midnight
for study and prayer [recited to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem]. The crying, hoarse voice of Reb Bendet Dawid would be heard from
his cellar night in and night out.

In later years when there was no income to be made in the city, he went to the
villages around Będzin with his machine to sharpen axes and knives for the
peasants. He would leave in the early morning after praying, taking his machine
on his shoulders, reciting Psalms by heart, from time to time stopping,
interrupting his recitation of Psalms and banging his hammer and calling in his
hoarse voice, Knives sharpened! Knives sharpened! He often received
beatings from the non-Jewish boys in the villages or they would set their dogs
on him. Then he would return home bloodied and with torn clothing. He would not
have any complaints to God and accepted everything with resignation. He was
also satisfied if he was given potatoes instead of money; he did not bargain.
However much he was paid was good. He would return home happy and singing a
chapter of Psalms.

He went blind in his last years. He would go out in the street with his wife
and recite Psalms and actually he died in the middle of reciting Psalms

3) The big winnings

by Motek Hampel

There was a Jew in Będzin who lived in an alley that led to the Gerer
shtibl [one room Hasidic house of prayer]. He was named Szmul Cukerfeld, but he
was known by the nickname Stafa.

[Page 149]

A Jew, a poor man, may it never happen to us, and he lived off the złotys
he earned from dragging and carrying valises and packages near the train at the
old station.

This was his profession and earning a living was as difficult as parting the
Red Sea. There was only a piece of bread and a weak krupnik [barley soup] with
which to live through the day and this does not speak about clothing and shoes
for his older daughters, who had no prospects for marriage, if not for the luck
that was destined for them from heaven

His son, Chaim'l, with a blond head of hair, white large eyebrows and
near-sighted eyes, grew up without attending a cheder [religious elementary
school] because he needed to work in the sugar warehouses of the colonial
wholesaler, Hampel and Goldsobel, while still very young in order
to help his father earn money.

Reb Szmul was as proud as he was a failure. He did not ask anyone for any favor
and when he was sent some clothing for his children, he refused to take it,
arguing that the Lord would help

He was a simple Jew, not a scholar, but an honest Jew, believing in God and
obeying all of the laws and mitzvahs [commandments].

When he would leave early in the morning for the station for his livelihood, he
would first finish praying with religious ecstasy and bliss so that the prayers
would be welcome and God would send him a quicker salvation so that he would
not witness the sorrow of his sons who grew like fast growing weeds and
non-Jews and the sorrow of his daughters who had been eligible for marriage for
a long time.

Reb Szmul tried his luck playing the lottery because he believed in his
good fortune. Every month he bought a lot in the office of
Szlezinger-Kokotek and although he was never sure of even winning back his
stake, he was not disappointed, uttering no sound of regret from
his mouth, not giving up hope, not losing his faith  and he played again.

On a beautiful, clear day, it was announced that he had won the great winnings,
a large sum of money; it was said to be over a 100,000 złotys or perhaps
even more. At first he did not believe the news because he was sure that some
band of clowns was babbling nonsense, probably they were laughing
and mocking him because one can always make fun of a poor man, a pauper

However, when he was convinced that the number of his receipt checked with the
number of the large lottery winning number, he fainted. A doctor had to be
called.

Reb Szmul was a wealthy man, a millionaire. They were tearing off his door and
would not let him rest. Each time, a new delegation came from some sort of
yeshiva [religious secondary school], from a charitable organization, from a
group providing for poor brides, nor only from Będzin, but from the entire
area because his name had reached so far away and the newspapers had written a
great deal about him. He would not shame them; he gave them nice gift and
wished them everything good, like a tzadik [righteous man].

And when Reb Szmul now came to the Bet Midrash to usher in Shabbat, he was
welcomed by the gabbai [assistant to the rabbi] and worshippers with respect.
He was seated as an equal at the Eastern Wall* with all of the rich men and
prosperous middle class. He married off his daughters well, gave them the
nicest and most expensive, best clothing; he gave each a good dowry because
they had very nice and successful husbands of whom he was proud.

*[Translator's note: The worshippers in a synagogue face east when praying; the
eastern wall is where the rabbi and prominent members of a congregation pray.]

He no longer had to work; he could live out his life quietly and happily with
his wife, if not for the frightening war in which he was annihilated with his
entire family.

4) Będzin  The singing town

Będzin sang; it was happy. A stranger arriving in the city could get the
impression that the luckiest cities in the world belong to Zagłębie,
that people from Zagłębie are carefree, dance in the streets.

Orchestras went through the streets. Men and women, well rehearsed. They
actually provided modest concerts, marched from courtyard to courtyard and
played the newest hits and sang the most timely and newest songs.

I sometimes think that these orchestras belonged to a bunch of young people who
were content to march through the streets and to drive away the gloom of the
community, to strengthen the courage, to bring out cheerfulness and spirit
among the population. These orchestras created elegance and culture and today
this is a necessary task.

Tens of such orchestras could be counted in one day; they could be heard
playing so gloriously that work had to be interrupted and one had to stick
one's head out of the window.

But why is it they stick out their hands and demand money? It is not, God
forbid, a donation, it is a fee for an artist.

It was said that these courtyard musicians consisted of intelligent and
studious young people. It was not only said, but was actually the truth. Some
wore academic caps on their heads or caps from their corporations, in order to
demonstrate and illustrate: See who we are This, gentlemen, smelled a
little of abuse. They were no longer playing on instruments, but on the nerves
of passersby.

However, it was a fact that these young people took to courtyards playing and
singing in order to receive a piece of bread.

Time was, the courtyard musicians had to follow the style, throw off their torn
shoes, put on fine pants, a summer shirt, shave their faces, comb their hair
 not go astray with their tuneless fiddles, not ask for pity, but
transform themselves into wandering artists.

And as the Christians do, so do the Jews. Here, too, on the Jewish street, old
men and women beggars, who feigned blindness, deafness, dumbness, lameness and
simple cripples, an army of Fishke dem krumen* [the lame].

* [Translator's note: Fishke der Krumer is the name of a novel by Mendele Mocher Sforim 
Sholem Yankev Abramovich  written in 1869.]

But new types of women beggars appeared, women dressed almost according to the
newest style, others dressed as rebbitzens [wives of rabbis]. They went in
pairs.

[Page 150]

The results were really better; they received more than a groshn, because their
external appearance drew respect.

It was said that it was decided at a meeting of the Jewish beggar family to
stop the then current method of impersonating cripples and instead of wearing
torn and dirty clothing, beggars should dress elegantly. Instead of begging,
they should go to collect money.

Along with playing and singing, the Jewish street was Europeanized.
Not only unrehearsed orchestras, but singers could also be heard. The
song about the Titanic ship  'Wrane, wrane fli oyf meyn kever'
[Crow, crow, fly onto my grave] was no longer sung, but instead the
newest Jewish songs. A Polish singer-beggar also tried his luck with an
anti-Semitic song; the Jewish singer then tried all sorts of national songs or
purely worker songs, depending upon which courtyard he entered

The Jewish cantor also took to strolling through the streets, in courtyards,
even several cantors together and they would sing a hashchivenu [A prayer for
peace  part of the Shabbat evening prayers] or other compositions of
Mosze Kosewicki and Gerszon Sirota. Cantors were seen in yarmolkes and
ba'alei-tefilot [men who recite the prayers in synagogue] with velvet hats on
their heads and belts around their kaftans.

Będzin, the singing city; she sang from poverty and need.

(Zagłębier Zeitung, 1937)
Der Shwartser [The Dark One]

Chana Szental-Raviv

During her earliest childhood years Ch. S. [Chana Szental] revealed an
inclination to perform in the theater. The late Mosze Kaminer, the young
community worker, encouraged her and thanks to him she appeared for the first
time in the meeting hall of Tzeirei Zion, to which she belonged.

There were great arguments at home with her parents for whom it was no honor
that their daughter would become an actress.

At age 14 she was tested by Sztatler and Rechnic, the directors of the
Będzin Muze [Yiddish dramatic society], where she became a member until
her emigration to Israel in 1925. At the Muze, she appeared in
Dybbuk, Chafni un Pinchas [Chafni and Pinchas],
Der Meturaf [The Worthless], Dorf's Yung [Village
Youth] and other plays.

She also acted with the famous director Dawid Herman (there is more about about
him  in the Hebrew part of the book: In Memory of the Personalities
of Będzin)  in whose dramatic school she was supposed to
study, but because of her emigration to Eretz Yisrael, her idea was not
realized. Arriving in the country [Israel] she joined the artistic worker
studio Ohel,* where she appears to this day.

*[Translator's note: The Ohel Theater was founded in 1925
by Mosze Halevy. Its actors divided their time between theater work and physical
labor.]

She took part in the classical repertoire of Shakespeare, Shaw, Ostrowski and
others, as well as in the Biblical performances of her theater. She
particularly excelled in the role of Madam Zylberknopik in Abram Goldfaden's
plays, Di Machsheyfe [The Sorceress] and in Shulamit, for which
she was greatly applauded.

She went abroad with Ohel four times. The last time in 1950, while in Europe,
she found none of her family because all had perished.

5) Crazy Sara

by Chana Szental-Raviv

As other Jewish cities, Będzin also was no exception and it possessed its
fools and crazy people. There was no institution that took care of them (later,
such an institution was established in Brzozowice). Będzin was built and
progressed and simply did not have any time to look at the unfortunate - so
they did drag themselves around through the streets, without a roof over their
heads. They spent the night in the poor house in the anteroom of
the synagogue, or in a corner of a meeting house. There were those who were
calm and those who were wild; there were seasonal and yearlong crazy people, as
for example the crazy Mordechai, who could wear the crown of all of the crazy
people in the entire county, Iwan Sztralaj, Welwele
Ajgerist, Sztrobel, Majerl Dąbrower and on
and on. We will not write about all of them. There is nothing to boast about in
their wisdom, but for the popular Meshuggene [crazy] Sara, who held
the title the city crazy woman, we will give a short report,
described by Mrs. Chana Szental-Raviv.

(The Ed.)

Several spiritually ill people could be seen running through the streets of
Będzin, who as a rule did not do anything bad to anyone, and they were
left alone and not bothered. But children would tease them and call after them,
Meshuggener. Only when they were angered for no reason and for spite did they
defend themselves, throwing stones and appropriate curses. Of the unfortunate
creatures of God, the Meshuggene Sara is engraved in my memory. She was
particularly well known by everyone because in the course of a day she would
run through the entire city, from one corner to other, covered with colored
rags and laden with wood, pieces of coal and provisions for which she had
begged. She was always in torn clothing and barefoot, although she had been
given clothing and shoes out of compassion. But she never did wear them and hid
them for her child, which was her illness. It was said (I do not know how
much truth there is in it) that she had a daughter who committed suicide, or
died of a natural death. From this she lost her sanity and kept talking about a
child, a story with real curses which she kept repeating, because she always
recited a monologue  and in the middle of speaking she would
beg for a donation, which she was quickly given, only in order to be rid of her
as fast as possible. And this was her sermon:

[Page 151]

Give a groshn, quicker, I do not have any time. If you do not want to
give, then give me a needle. You should be stuck with darts in the next world.
Give a piece of coal, quicker. Sara is cold, you are warm. Your intestines
should burn, you should shiver and you should be thrown in gehenom [hell]. Ha,
you hide from me? Do not be afraid! I will not do anything to you. My child
wants to drink. Quiet, quiet, do not wake up my child; it is sleeping. Faster,
give me a donation. I must escape; they want to beat me! I should live so long
that I have stolen nothing. Let me warm myself. Sara's hands and feet are
frozen. Give me a piece of bread for my child. Hurry, hurry.

Begging a groshn, a piece of bread and a little coal, she sat satisfied on the
sidewalk near the gutter singing this song with a sad melody: Cut open my
heart, you will see my pain; my love, my love, have pity on me. She sang
a lullaby for her daughter. She put her to sleep. The child slept; she broke
out into a wild laughter, took all of her packages and left to again go through
the streets.

In 1928, when there was a deep frost in Poland, she was found lying dead,
frozen in the street.

When I came to Israel 30 years ago and wanted to enter the Ohel, I gave an
improvisation of Meshuggene Sara during my examination  and I had a
successful examination.

Legends about Będzin

by Tobiasz Israel Kaminski (Canada)

Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

Legends about the rabbis, spiritual leaders, communal workers and, naturally,
the Jewish masses are braided in the history of Będzin and of its
development and growth.

As each legend is a reflection and characteristic of the spiritual life of the
people and of the environment around which the legend was created  so
were the Będzin legends a key to our past life. They give us an idea of
how the earlier generations saw life and what kind of interpretation they
wanted to plant in us  their children and children's children. The older
generation believed the legendary stories to be actual events and they spread
them among the cheder [religious elementary school] children and young people.

Rabbi Jicchak'l and his death

Parallel to the modern Będzin which developed and grew with a surprising
speed, old Będzin lived and wove its life. Around the synagogue
neighborhood, near the hills, the open one and the closed one, to
the other mountain that also had a name that is seldom brought to
the lips or put on paper the remembered Untern Berg [under
the mountain  a reference to the poor who lived below the richer people]
was mostly inhabited by the poorest Jews of the city.

On a summer day, children as naked as Adam, exactly as their mothers bore them,
would be found playing around the collapsing little houses. Their parents were
busy with worry about earning a living, that is going from house to house and
collecting small donations. It was even said that many of the professional
schnorrers [beggars] had considerable kniplech [savings]
somewhere, but begging was a part of their being that they received by
inheritance

The old cemetery, which lay sloping with hundreds of headstones, was near the
unterberg neighborhood; among them, many had sunken into the ground and were
rubbed off. At this cemetery, which simultaneously served as a mechitzah
[curtain or other form of divider separating women from men in Orthodox
synagogues during prayers] between both hills, was found  always lit by
an eternal light  an ohel [structure usually built over the grave of a
holy or prominent person] that was, according to what was said, the grave of a
former Będzin rabbi, Rabbi Jicchak'l.

The following is told about Rabbi Jicchak'l and his ohel:

It was still in the good old times when God's word and Torah ruled over all
Jews from young to old. Strolling couples arm in arm were not seen then and
certainly the young girls of marriageable age did not dare to wear clothing
with short sleeves. In those former times all grown men were found in the Bet
Midrash [synagogue or house of study], with a Gemara [rabbinical commentary],
Ein Yaakov [non-legal ethical teaching of Talmud] or with a chapter of Psalms.
The Yiddishe techter [Jewish daughters  Jewish women] always were at home
with their mothers as King David says (Psalm 45, verse 14), (as well as)
every honorable princess dwelling within, whose raiment is of golden
settings  Indeed Jews earned good income in merit of the Torah and
good deeds and tranquility and peace reigned in the world.

In great part the conduct of the Będzin Jews was influenced by the
above-mentioned Rabbi Jicchak'l, who then sat on God's throne [was the rabbi].
He was a holy Jew to whom one would turn from near and far for blessings, or to
have edicts on the Jewish community in general or on individuals revoked. Many
Jews did repentance as a result of his influence, became good for God and for
the community

When Rabbi Jicchak'l felt his death approaching, he called together all of the
scholars and God-fearing mystics in the city to his house. He wanted to
look into the heart of each one in order to see who was worthy to
be his replacement on God's throne and a defender of the Będzin Jews.

Lying in bed thus in thought, looking into the hearts of those gathered, he
suddenly cried, tears flowed from his eyes without end.

[Page 152]

The reason for his crying  he said  was that he did not see anyone
who would qualify to be an intercessor for the Będzin Jews on the eve of
the severe edicts that were approaching.

Then he again closed his eyes and suddenly his face brightened.

Now I can move away from the world, he said. They agree in heaven
that I will continue to be the intercessor even after my death

Build an ohel around my grave. Place sforim [sacred books] in it and an
eternal light should burn in my ohel to remind every passerby not to turn from
God and his Torah 

With these words he breathed out his soul.

It should be understood that his wish was fulfilled and joy and calm reigned
for Israel [for the Jews].

Years passed and the name of Rabbi Jicchak'l was really not forgotten among the
older Jews. But the younger generation did begin to forget him

It once happened that two Germans came to Będzin for several
days.*

*[Translator's note: The word German appears in quotes which may indicate that
the reference is to assimilated Jews, who may or may not be German because many
German Jews were adherents of reform Judaism.]

Going for a stroll on Shabbat, not far from the above-mentioned ohel, one of
them had a desire to smoke a cigarette. Not having any fire with him, he
decided that he would enter the ohel and light his cigarette at the eternal
light. His friend remained outside the cemetery.

Waiting, he suddenly heard terrible screaming from the ohel. Returning to the
ohel he saw his friend lying on the ground in convulsions not able to move or
to say anything, the smoking cigarette in his mouth.

He tried to lift him, but he was as if forged to the ground He quickly
ran for help, but when the help arrived it was too late. Death had liberated
him from his suffering. The villain had received his judgment for desecrating
Shabbat in the rabbi's ohel.

Signs were seen here that Rabbi Jicchak'l still kept a watchful eye on his
grave. Będzin Jews were pious and engaged in Torah and good deeds. The
friend of the dead man also repented and became a pious Jew.

Reb Bunem of Przysucha and the trial of the gabbai of Kinyan Sforim[Kinyan Sforim  the acquisition of sacred books] [1]

A Jew once came to Będzin with a letter of recommendation from a famous
rabbi of that time. He was in need of several hundred rubles in order to marry
off his daughter of marriageable age. In as much as the bearer of the letter
was himself an intimate of the same rabbi, the young men from the house of
prayer decided that the gabbai [assistant to the rabbi] should give him several
rubles from the Kinyan Sforim money.

It had to happen that the story of giving away the few rubles to a society for
marrying off poor and orphaned girls in the community should reach the gabbai
of the house of prayer, which belonged to the Mitnagdim [opponents of Hasidism]
camp and, therefore, the young men who were Hasidim were frowned upon.

Agitation began that the young men squandered kehila [organized Jewish
community] money.

The agitators hoped that through several pieces of gossip Hasidism in general
would simultaneously successfully be made loathsome and they demanded that the
Kinyan Sforim gabbai be brought to a public trial.

On Sunday, when the public trial was supposed to take place, a large, curious
crowd came together  followers of both sides (Hasidim and Mitnagdim]. A
victory by the middle class meant a victory for the opponents of Hasidism and a
victory for the young men meant a victory for Chasidut [Hasidism].

The gabbaim of the house of study and several followers and ordinary members of
the middle class sat at the long and wide table near the eastern wall and began
to negotiate this lawsuit before the rabbinical court

The Rabbi, Reb Bunem, who was a resident of Będzin before he became rabbi,
had just returned from a trip and a visit to the Kučnicer Maggid [preacher].
Hearing about the trial and about the results that the judgment against the
young men could bring to the Hasidic movement, he decided to be present at the
trial and to intercede for the above-mentioned young men.

The Rabbi, Reb Bunem, entered just as the accusers began to lay out their
arguments against the party to the lawsuit. They demanded that the gabbai of
the Kinyan Sforim and its members who had advised him to give away the money be
prohibited admission to the house of study and also they should pay a fine.

The rabbi listened to the words for the entire time and said nothing. Suddenly
he banged on the table and called out:

Before I refute your arguments, I want to ask you to tell me the literal
meaning of the verse in Psalms (Psalm 119, verse 176): I have strayed
like a lost sheep; [seek out Your servant for I have not forgotten your
commandments].[2]

When none of them answered, Rabbi Bunem continued: In order to explain
the meaning of this verse I have to tell you a story that happened years ago in
the woods.

Once a plague broke out among the animals.

The lion, the king of the animals, called together all of his subjects
and asked them to explain how they had last nourished themselves in order to
find out whose sin brought the outbreak of the plague. The first of those
gathered to come out was the tiger.

[Page 153]

He said that being in the woods, he was caught by a terrible hunger. Suddenly
he heard a noise. And when he turned around he saw a person who had lost his
way wandering around the woods. With him, he had stilled his hunger.

The lion said, 'You have not committed any sin. God himself gave you
strength in order that you should be able to feed yourself even with human
flesh.'

Then the bear approached. He explained:

Once, not having eaten for two days, he saw the guard of the woods going
to the woods without a gun. He liked the guard because he would chase the
hunters who would come to shoot at the animals. He did not want to bother him,
but his hunger so tortured him that he attacked and devoured him.

'This cannot be the cause of the plague, you did not commit a sin.
Everyone of us would have done the same,' said the lion.

After him came the fox and said that he also went around without food for
a long time. Then he saw a father calling his little son who had disappeared
from under his hand. Lifting his head, he saw that the child stood not far. He
dragged away the child and tasted him.

'You have also not committed a crime. The father, who did not keep enough
of a watch on him, is basically guilty in that the child is no longer alive,'
judged the king of the animals.

Thus all of the animals came before the lion with various outrages they
had done. However, none of them had made enough of an impression on him.
Finally, very late, a small thin sheep came running in a rush with tears in his
eyes and told the following:

'Once on a winter night, when the cold would truly cause one to freeze,
the wagon driver took pity on me and took me into his residence to spend the
night. At night when everyone in the house was already asleep, I noticed that
straw lay in the boot of my owner so that his feet would be warm. As I was very
hungry, I threw myself at the straw and ate it up. My owner naturally did not
find the straw when he woke up so that he had cold feet all day.

Hearing the sin that the sheep had committed, the lion called out: 'Now,
we have found the sinner among us, for which we all must suffer. It wasn't
enough that his owner had given him a warm room, but he thanked him by eating
up the straw from his boots so that his feet would freeze all day '

Immediately a court of animals was created in order to decide what kind
of punishment the sheep should receive. After a short consultation, it was
decided that the sheep would be killed and thus remove God's wrath from all
animals.

This is - the Rabbi, Reb Bunem rendered  the interpretation of the
verse, 'I have strayed like a lost sheep.' King David explained how a sheep
lost its life over a little bit of straw, while the stronger and greater
sinners hide themselves in a cloak of the fear of God and will punish the small
and weak for the sins that they alone have committed

Here sit the judges, he continued, who have themselves
committed injustices and sins. Pointing his finger at each one, he said,
You, Reb Shmul, did you not take dowries given to you to hide by poor
brides, saying that they had been stolen from you? And you, Reb Mosze, do
you not make money through interest (usury) and you transgress over several
religious prohibitions with every loan that you give? And you, Reb
Zajnwel, have you repented for your sin with a married woman? 

Thus did the Rabbi, Reb Bunem with a holy spirit look into everyone's heart and
soul listing the sins that they had committed in their lives.

Shamed, the judges left the house of study and nothing came of the entire
trial

[Page 153]

Zagłębier Leben [Zagłębier Life]

by H. M.

Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

In 1937, two years before the last war, Sz. Lewkowicz (Ben-Amotz), who worked
at the Zagłębie Zeitung [Zagłębie Daily
Newspaper] and was a co-editor since its creation, left the newspaper and
created a new one with the name Zagłębier Leben
[Zagłębier Life].

From a letter to me from editor Szpigelman, at whose newspaper I worked as the
correspondent from Eretz Yisrael, I learned that Szpigelman was no longer
interested in Lewkowicz's working for Zagłębie Zeitung
because he had met Leibl Kerner, a capable young journalist, from Sosnowiec, an
intelligent young man who had a command of the Yiddish language, was proficient
in the legal discipline and had a light pen with which to write and engage in
polemics. He was won over by the Zag. Zeitung.

Sz. Lewkowicz's work in Zagłębier Leben was not
insubstantial. He was then editor, proofreader and administrator, he did all of
the editorial and administrative work almost alone, not permitting himself to
obtain help and to pay writers' wages as long as his newspaper was not earning
money.

Zagłębier Leben labored until, in time, it received the
sympathy of the population which gladly read it and advertised there.

The editor, Lewkowicz, was an interesting type without whom it is difficult to
represent Jewish Będzin. A popular person, coming in contact with all circles
in the city, he knew what was happening behind the scenes of all of the
institutions, both communal and in general. There was no gathering in the city,
no meeting in which he did not take part; he was also a good conversationalist.
He loved to tell little stories. In time Zag. Leben worked itself
up to a position in the communal life of the city. It was gladly read, thanks
to Sz. Lewkowicz, who wrote in his usual spot, with his successful political
supplements in which he reacted in an ironical tone to the hindrances of our
life and made fun of the communal workers who rush to the eastern wall[3] with his satirical Kach Lefl[4] in which he mixed the muck of communal life  he
interested the reader who was strongly delighted by the successful sayings
and jokes.

Lewkowicz filled the columns of Zag. Leben almost alone, writing under various
pseudonyms. Lewkowicz declared that his newspaper was an imperial organ, but in
as much as he was a Zionist, the newspaper had a Zionist character, giving much
space to all Zionist storms. He fought for Zionist matters in the kehila
[organized Jewish community], in the rabbinate. Just as the Jewish neighborhood
lived with the spirit of Eretz Yisrael at that time in Poland and the Jewish
press dedicated many columns to our matters, Lewkowicz also introduced a
special section for Eretz Yisrael. Zeev Landau-Artsi served as a coworker for
Eretz Yisrael from Tel Aviv, in the Zag. Leben which from time to
time published interesting letters from Eretz Yisrael, particularly about the
life of the Zagłębie colony in the country.

The newspaper was published until the march of the Hitler bandits into Będzin.

The newspaper began to publish in the year 5665  1925 under the
editorship of Moshe Chaim Kaminer and Lipman Berkowicz.

It was during the years when orthodoxy awoke, became independent and took in
its hands the representation of its own interests, created its own educational,
cultural and economic institutions.

In Zagłębie, particularly in Będzin, where the packed Orthodox
masses and many communal institutions were led by religious Jews, they felt the
lack of their own platform that would report the events and accomplishments of
the religious community to the wider public.

The writer of these lines took upon himself the initiative of publishing a
weekly newspaper dedicated to general communal life and religious problems of
Zagłębie and Upper Silesian Jewry.

The first issue, which evoked great applause and recognition by the Orthodox
population, was published in the month of Shevat 5685 [January or February,
1925].

The first issues were printed in Zajdner's printing shop in Będzin, which
was not convenient for us; we began to think about our own printing shop, but
this was connected with many financial difficulties. After the printing of
eight issues in outside printing shops, our editorial board acquired its own
new typesetting shop where the newspaper was composed, but it was not printed
in our own printing shop.

[Page 156]

The newspaper was widely distributed. The management did not give the newspaper
to the kiosks or to the newspaper sellers, but sent it directly to the
subscribers by mail and in this way the newspaper was supported by steady
readers.

The informational part was well done and we gave objective reports about the
local news, about the meetings of the city council, kehiles [plural of kehila
 organized Jewish community] and about the work of the various
institutions in Zagłębie, with which our newspaper earned great
trust. There was no activist from any party and society who did not subscribe
to the newspaper. Although it was a provincial newspaper, it had subscribers in
almost all of the cities and shtetlech in Poland. At around one at night on
Thursday, after finishing the issue, the newspaper was rushed to the submitted
addresses, so that on Friday in the morning, the readers received the newspaper
at home.

A difficult chapter was the advertising problem because the firms were
connected with the advertising bureau that sent advertisements to the
newspapers. There were sides with interests which applied all kinds of means so
that our newspaper would not profit from such advertisements. But the
management removed all of the difficulties so that the large firms that learned
about the large circulation of our newspaper sent us their advertisements. The
advertisement bureaus later changed their attitude and gave equal rights to our
newspaper along with the entire Zagłębie press.

Dos Yiddishe Wochenblat served as a beginner's school for many writers and
journalists who later became famous; if a tendency and talent with the pen was
shown, the editor willingly responded and helped them develop their abilities.

Of the writers who made their debuts and worked steadily for the Wochenblat, it
is worthwhile to record several: Gerszon Gura (now in Israel), Jechiel Fajner
(Israel, well known under the pseudonym, K. Zetnik), B. Mandelbaum (America),
Sztajer, Jakobowicz, Cajzler, Granatsztajn, Dawid Skornik, Berl Recht,
Szczekacz, Kaner, Zajdman and more.

Today, when we page through the eight volumes of Wochenblat which contains a
slice of Zagłębie life, we can properly appreciate the merits of the
newspaper. Yearly documentation of well written articles from Wochenblat can be
found in the yearbooks of the Yiddisher Visnshaftlecher Institut [Jewish
Scientific Institute] (YIVO) which recorded a large number of articles that
were published in the newspaper.

Będziner dialects

by Dawid L.

Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

Geographically, Będzin belonged to Congress Poland; the language of the
Jews, with small changes, was similar to that of local speakers in Warsaw and
Łódź. The nearness of the German border also had a certain
influence. In addition, Będzin as one of the oldest cities in Poland also
had its own dialect that was passed as an inheritance from generation to
generation. Linguistically, the city was actually divided in two parts: the old
Będzin  around the synagogue and the Unteren Berg
[literally, under the mountain or hill; the area in which the poor lived],
Grobla and Bukowina [Streets], that is, almost all of the city that lay around
the Przemsza [River]. There lived the long time residents as well as the poor
population, in small, sunken houses and they spoke a different Yiddish from the
newer part of the city that was concentrated around Kołłątaja,
Małachowski, Modrzejowska and other streets. The old city spoke a Yiddish
that was similar to Viennese German that was characterized by among other
things the hard patach [vowel sound signifying an a]:

Będziners were known as great eaters and, therefore, had their own foods
and expressions of which we present several examples here:

A doltn  it was said in almost the entire county about a Będziner, a
Będziner doltn  it meant a cheese cake, bent on all four sides.

Epl-platz  made of grated apples, baked in a large pan. Almost a
folk-food for Będziner, where the Jewish women would sell the epl-platz in
the street and cover the pan with several cloths so that it did not get cold.

A yushke  a potato soup, a traditional food for Friday afternoons when
the women did not have time and the men had not washed before eating. It is
said about a well known rich man from Będzin who once asked his wife to
also make a yushke for him: he wanted to know why the poor people cry so about
this food His wife made the potato soup, seasoned it with onions crumbled with
good grivn [cracklings] and threw in a few little wings. I do not
understand why the poor people cry about the food; it is really a food of the
angels, he said

A yoche or yoech  a meat soup.

A lachme broyt (from lechem [bread in Hebrew]), a coarse bread.

[Page 157]

A reftele [slice] or a gembele [mouthful] of bread  an ekl [end of the
bread].

There are other special expressions that arose on Będziner soil because of
purely local reasons, for example:

A bachman  a treger [a porter]. The expression comes from the German word
Bucht [bay]  a [body of] water. The Będzin porters would always
stand on the water bridge, so they were called buchman, bachman 
Wassermann [waterman]; it seems that when Będzin Jews began to be referred
to with family names, porters were given the name Bachman. There was a large
Bachman family in Będzin who were porters and, as the trade was inherited,
all of the porters in Będzin were called bachman.

A hisher  from a local word; The Jews would say about a person born in
Będzin that he is a hisher, that is, an aristocrat, because
the hisher looked with contempt on the new arrival.

Farn to'er [before the gate]  farn toyer, this is what we called the
start of Kołłątaja Street, where the building of the new part of
the city had begun.

Di bu'ech  the river, from the German Bucht.

Fun driber  from the other side of the border. Będzin was located
near the German border. Geyst ariber [goes across], kumst fun driber 
comes from the other side.

Ire from the word ihr [she], which the Będzin beggars, who would go in
groups from house to house on Thursdays and Fridays, would use; one would go
onto the floors and announce to the owners: Madamishe [diminutive of Madam],
five irn  that means five people, meaning they [the beggars] are five
poor people.

A hader  a shmate [a rag] to wipe the dil [floor], or in Polish, padloges
[floors].

A zarka  a bantse  give someone a slap.

A hemed  a hemd [a shirt].

A banda  a winter coat

Habelak [long coat]  a cape over the head.

Gey aroyes  gey aroys fun tzimer [go out of the room].

A nichtern  on Shabbos evenings, the old women would abstain from needle
work and concentrate on the spirituality of the week to come, simply a nichtern
[one who abstains].

Mumen, muzmen  as men muz, muz men [If one must, he must].

Ot izn iz er  er is gekumen [he has come].

Ch'hob mich getu'en ti'en fragn, ich hob zich gefregt [I asked].

Geme  gemen  gib mir [give me].

Reb Bunem of Przysucha: born 5505 [1745] in Wodzisław, died on the 12 of
Elul 5587 [September 4, 1827] in Przysucha. He married Rywka daughter of Mosze
of Będzin (Sefer haChasidiut of Jicchak Werfl); Kinyan Sforim: a small
weekly payment taken from the worshippers for a fund to buy new sforim and to
repair sforim from a house of prayer. return

I have strayed Using the ignorance of the middle class, the rabbi
presented a sentence of two judgments, also distorted the word bikkesh 
which means to seek, for bakash that means in straw. return

An ironic reference to ostensibly secular community workers who were quick
to go to the synagogue. return

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc.
and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of fulfilling our
mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and
destroyed Jewish communities. This material may not be copied,
sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be
reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.